In Control – Vol. VIII, No. 9

By Steve & Dave (11.27.2005)

Who – besides us, that is – wonders why the heck The Amazing Producers would waste one of only two Yields on a non-elimination leg? The Yield has pretty much been a bust since it was introduced, and putting one on a NEL makes very little sense. The premise behind the Yield is that you might be able to force just enough of a delay on one team that they could possibly slip into last place and be eliminated. What’s the point to a Yield on a NEL then? Where are they going to put the Yields in TAR9? Right before the place where all the teams bunch on every leg?

Trust us, our knees took more punishment getting back from challenges than they did doing any of them.

Who – besides us, again – felt cheated when teams took a helicopter to the top of a butte, and then rode the helicopter back down instead of climbing/rappelling down? (Trust us, our knees took more punishment getting back from challenges than they did doing any of them.) This clue location was pretty indicative of TAR:FE to date, though. Very little bang for the buck.

Who – still besides us – knew that the leg was a NEL as soon as the talk of the upcoming Yield and the Linz’s plan to Yield the Weavers began? All the “boo-hooing” and the “poor us-es” coming from the Weavers only reinforced it.

Speaking of the Weavers (who will probably win TAR:FE, by the way), Steve and Dave have spared no expense in putting together the following map of the state of Utah, with points of interest as noted by the Weaver clan. Our apologies in advance to the fine folks who call Utah home. We like Utah, and think it is a very pretty state. We’re not too certain about the whole “multiple wives” thing (or at least that’s what OUR wives told us to say), but to each his own.

After compiling that map, we found ourselves still in the map-creating mood, so we decided to show you exactly why the route the Weavers decided upon probably wasn’t such a great idea. On the map below (which we drew ourselves, and should never even be considered for real-world navigation) you can see why the route that the Weavers took looked very inviting. You can also probably figure out why it took them so much longer to arrive at the Roadblock than everyone else.

Had we been running TAR:FE, we may have even considered taking the same route as the Weavers ourselves. Then again, we carried cheese rather than dig through poo.

Apparently no one but us noticed the interesting gang-up at the Yield this time. We had to run the TiVo back several times to make sure, but there it was:

No wonder the poor Weavers think everyone hates them. Well, maybe not everyone. We don’t see Phil’s picture up there.

And since we’re doing so many pictures this column, here’s one more:

We have no real reason for putting the picture in our column this week, but we just can’t help liking the dang thing. Maybe we should have used it as a warning to Ray and Deana – WARNING! This could be what happens when babies grow up. Or perhaps we could have used it to remind everyone that TAR season 4 is again being shown on GSN. It’s better than TAR:FE. Really.